StrikeForce News - Page 3

Do you have a hot MMA story or news item that you have found and would like to share?
Then read our guidelines then post it to our MMA News Share Forum to have it display here for the community to read on this page.

When officials announced the Jan. 12 event in early November, Rockhold (10-1 MMA, 9-0 SF) said he informed officials that a wrist injury lingered and that he was unable to fight.
That's why he's particularly irritated by a series of verbal attacks from Lorenz Larkin (13-0 MMA, 4-0 SF) regarding his willingness to compete.
"He was obviously misinformed to some extent," Rockhold said. "I've been in that situation, but just to lash out at me, that's pretty amateur."
Larkin, who today addressed his grievances with MMAjunkie.com Radio, was twice scheduled to vie for the title before injuries interceded.
"I just feel like guys are acting like they haven't paved any way for them to go to the UFC and a catastrophe could happen on Jan. 12, where [UFC President Dana White is] going to be like, 'No. I didn't like the way you fought, and you're not going to come over,'" Larkin said.

Pat Healy (28-16 MMA, 6-1 SF) once again has an opponent for Strikeforce's final show.
Sources close to the event on Monday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Jorge Masvidal (23-7 MMA, 5-1 SF) has filled a slot left vacant by the injury withdrawal of lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez.
"Strikeforce: Champions" takes place Jan. 12 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.

After Gilbert Melendez dropped off the card last week, Strikeforce: Champions suffers more with the loss of Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold.
The injury bug has hit Strikeforce again. After their last two events were cancelled the California-based promotion resolved to put together one last super card for January. The main card of the aptly named Strikeforce: Champions was meant to include defenses from their most prolific champions in Luke Rockhold (Middleweight), Nate Marquardt (Welterweight), Gilbert Melendez (Lightweight) and Daniel Cormier (Heavyweight Grand Prix).
Now it's looking like Strikeforce will be lucky to call the event "Champion". Last week it came out that Gilbert Melendez was forced from his fight against Pat Healy for the second time. Friday night, The MMA Corner announced that Luke Rockhold also suffered an injury.

Dana White never has been one to mince words.
In recent months, when it comes to Strikefoce, the Zuffa president has forced himself to be mum on the topic of the UFC's sibling promotion. "I don't have anything to do with them" was a common response when reporters wanted to get his take on Strikeforce.
White recently, though, admitted he's disappointed with how things have turned out for the promotion.

Strikeforce light heavyweight Mike Kyle has announced he expects to face former champion Gegard Mousasi at the final Strikeforce event early next year. Find out the details inside.
Third time's the charm!
After having a planned fight between Gegard Mousasi and Mike Kyle fall apart twice in the past, Strikeforce is apparently trying to make the bout happen one last time at the locked and loaded event at the start of the year (Jan. 12, 2013) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
While the fight has not yet been officially confirmed by Strikeforce, Kyle relayed the news earlier today via a YouTube video he made while at the doctor's office preparing to get some stitches for a cut on his forehead. He says in the video that the cut will not be a problem or affect the fight, which would be taking place in about eight weeks.

There's almost no other way to put it: Here we go again.
Two months ahead of his title defense at Strikeforce's next card – and reportedly its last card – lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez has been sidelined again.
The news comes from Tatame, and UFC/Zuffa President Dana White said on a fan chat with the Montreal Gazette earlier in the day Friday that he believed Melendez was going to be off the January show.

The competition continues to stiffen for lightweight Ryan Couture.
Sources close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com that Couture is set to meet onetime welterweight title challenger K.J. Noons at "Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Healy."
The bout is likely to serve on the Showtime Extreme-televised preliminary card of the event, which takes place Jan. 12 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. Main-card fights, including three title bouts, air on Showtime.

With news coming in today that Strikeforce is closing operations after January 2013, former Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight champion Miesha Tate announced that she has joined current champion Ronda Rousey as the first female fighters in UFC history.

As we already told you, celebrity gossip site TMZ dropped to big announcements on the MMA world Thursday night. Obviously, the first was that WMMA superstar Ronda Rousey will become the first female fighter to compete under the UFC banner. Secondly they reported that the Strikeforce event scheduled for January will be the final card for the promotion.

A third Strikeforce championship match has been added to the January event, as Gilbert Melendez will face Pat Healy. The bout was reported by MMAjunkie.com on Thursday.
Two other championship matches are scheduled for the January 12 card, as Nate Marquardt defends his Strikeforce welterweight crown against Tarec Saffiedine, and Luke Rockhold meets Lorenz Larkin for his Strikeforce middleweight title.
Melendez and Healy were originally set to collide at an event earlier this year, but an injury to "El Nino" took him out of the contest. The entire card was eventually cancelled.

MMAjunkie.com is reporting that Daniel Cormier will be part of the January Strikeforce event. The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix champion will face
Dion Staring on the card, which is slated to feature three championship matches.
Cormier (10-0) was originally set to square off with former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir this month, but after Mir was forced out, no suitable replacement was ever made. The entire event was eventually scrapped by the promotion.
Staring (28-7) is a training partner of Alistair Overeem and has won each of his last six fights. Fourteen of his career wins have come by way of knockout, while another eight are submission victories.

According to sources close to the event, Nate Marquardt will defend his Strikeforce welterweight title against Tarec Saffiedine at a planned Jan. 12 event. A host city and venue is still unknown at this time. The fight is expected to be televised on Showtime.
Strikeforce has yet to officially announce the fight, which has been verbally agreed to by all parties involved.
Marquardt (32-10-2) won the Strikeforce belt in his promotional debut when he knocked out Tyron Woodley in July. Meanwhile, Saffiedine (13-3) has won his last three fights in a row, most recently defeating Roger Bowling via unanimous decision in August.

A month after their title fight was shut down due to injury, and then card cancellation, it appears Luke Rockhold and Lorenz Larkin have a new dance date.
Rockhold (10-1 MMA, 9-0 SF), the Strikeforce middleweight champion, and Larkin (13-0 MMA, 4-0 SF) are being targeted for an as yet unannounced Strikeforce card on Jan. 12. Sources close to the promotion on Wednesday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the fight booking is in the process of being finalized.
Rockhold and Larkin were scheduled to meet in the co-main event of Strikeforce's Nov. 3 show in Oklahoma City, but that card was scrapped not long after Rockhold pulled out with a wrist injury.

Standing in a queue of fighters hoping to work on a possible Jan. 12 Strikeforce card, Jorge Masvidal (23-7 MMA, 5-1 SF) has a contingency plan if the promotion can't find space or the event is canceled.
He plans to take an offer from the recently revived Japanese promotion DREAM to fight Hayato Sakurai or Satoru Kitaoka at "DREAM.18: Special NYE 2012."
"I'd much rather fight here in America because I'd get more money ... but if I have to, (I'll fight on) Dec. 31," Masvidal recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "I'll be kicking ass in Japan."
Kitaoka is one of three Japanese vets expected to compete at the DREAM event, which takes place Dec. 31 event at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, with a broadcast partner to be announced. The January Strikeforce event was announced following the cancellation of a Nov. 3 event that was scrapped following injuries to two of its headliners.
Video in the link.

The current plan is for Strikeforce to put on a “mega show” in January 2013 to help make up for the last two cards that had to be cancelled due to numerous injuries that ravaged the top fighters expected to compete.
One fighter who is among those stuck in limbo is heavyweight Josh Barnett, who has a single fight left under the Strikeforce banner until he’s free to pursue other interests. Strikeforce did away with the heavyweight division in 2012 with the exception of Barnett and Daniel Cormier who were the finalists in the first ever Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.
While nothing has been signed, Barnett believes that he will be a part of the huge show planned for January with Strikeforce, allowing him to fulfill the final fight on his deal.
“I do know that I’m looking forward to fighting sometime in January for Strikeforce, and giving all the fans that have been following me on Showtime and Strikeforce exactly what they expect,” Barnett told Inside MMA on Monday.

Gentlemen, have you ever found yourself watching a Miesha Tate fight and thought, “You know what, that woman is a great fighter, I would love to show her my penis over the internet.” Well today is your lucky day, because a thread on the UG recently brought to light that the former Strikeforce bantamweight women’s champion has apparently launched a “members only” website, where just $4.99 a month (!!!!) gets you access to the following:
-Latest and up to date news
-Latest and up to date appearances and schedule
-Exclusive photos not found anywhere else
-Exclusive videos not found anywhere else
-Access to store for merchandise and memorbilia
-Contests available to fans only
-Be able to submit your picture with Miesha that will be permanently on her website
-Chance to Video Chat with Miesha herself (times and days TBD)
-Book 1 on 1 video chat
-See Marzia stream live from her phone (coming soon)

Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez won't need surgery to repair a bad tear to his AC joint, though a timetable for his return is unknown.
Melendez's manager and father, Gilbert Melendez Sr., expressed optimism that his son will be able to compete on a Strikeforce card planned for mid-January, though it depends on how quickly the fighter's recovery progresses.
"There's no definite yes," Melendez today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "It all depends if his body is healing on time as we anticipate."
The junior Melendez currently is working with Dr. Warren King, the current chief of orthopedic surgery for the Oakland Raiders and a team physician for the Golden State Warriors, to make sure the process goes smoothly.

Miesha Tate made the trek to Brazil this past week to rediscover her passion for fighting, get back to basics, and hit the reset button.
It's been 229 days since Ronda Rousey walked the walk inside Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus, Ohio, following weeks of talking the talk.
Then-champ Tate succumbed to the same fate as the former Olympic bronze-medal-winning judoka's previous seven adversaries: defeat via first round armbar.

Rising welterweight contender Jordan Mein (25-8) is on loan from Strikeforce and will meet UFC veteran Forrest Petz (25-9) in the headliner of November's Score Fighting Series event.
Score Fighting Series 7 takes place at Hamilton Place Theatre in Ontario, Canada.
The main card, including the Mein vs. Petz headliner, airs on AXS TV.